heroesdreamsrebirthfandomcom-20200214-history
Rules
Disclaimer The owners and operators of this text-based virtual reality simulation are making no profit from its operation. We are not to be held liable for any damages that may come from its use, but reserve the right to appropriately enforce our specific rules and regulations. Being here is a privilege, not a right. Inappropriate behavior will get an individual denied access to this server. By entering this game, you have agreed to abide by all the rules and policies as outlined in these news files, and as ruled by staff when the occasion demands it. Please respect that at all times when connected to the MUX or its Wiki. Terms of Service HD MUX is a consensual roleplay community. The players and the staff here work together to create a fun roleplaying environment, and to tell the stories of the characters on this game. The Staff of HD MUX function to provide a framework of guidelines to support the intent of the game, to facilitate the efforts of the players, and to assure the fair handling of all players and characters. To that end, the Staff of HD MUX institute rules and policies to maintain a fair balance between the rights and freedoms of all players, so that one player's freedoms do not impinge upon the freedoms of others. Any player found to be in violation of the rules and policies of HD MUX will be officially notified by Staff and given the opportunity to defend his or her actions, and/or correct the condition. Repeated violations may result in more strict punitive actions, - no longer welcome within the HD MUX community at all. While it is the most sincere wish of the Staff that such steps never be necessary, it should be made clear to all players that such actions can and will be taken to prevent players from impinging on the rights and freedoms of others within our community. 1. If you want to play here, you have to follow the rules. The rules are explained in the news files, which are accessible by typing 'news', and which you are reading now. The rules also include any judgment made by a member of staff, either in person or via message. Failure to follow the rules may result in being taken out of active play, removed from character, or even sitebanned. Or, in short... These are the rules. They are to be followed. :) 2. We promise to do our best to be fair. We're only human, and we admit that sometimes we, the staff, make mistakes. We will do our best to uphold the rules and see that everone gets a fair shake. Any staff decision may be appealed by sending @mail to *STAFF, so long as the appeal is communicated in a civil and reasonable manner. 3. You are responsible for any actions taken via your connection. Please protect your password, and do not allow others to log on to any of your alts. All actions have consequences, especially if they break rules. 4. Respect the staff, please. We're here to do a job that we don't get paid for, and we really do try to make sure you have a good time. 5. The policies in these files may be updated periodically. This will generally be explained via +bbposts to board #3. Advertising Our ad exchange policy is very simple. If you want to post an ad here, then you must also post our ad on the game whose ad you want to post. Our ad is listed in the next section, 'NEWS HOUSE AD'. You should submit an on-game +request in the Other category if you want to ad swap, and include the text of the other game's ad. Once the ad is posted here, a staff member will log in to the other game to ensure that our ad has also been posted. If it has not, then the ad on this game will most likely be removed. (Though the matter is subject to discussion, in case there is some legitimate reason why the posting of our ad was delayed.) Please note, we reserve the right to refuse to post any ad if we feel it is inappropriate for any reason. HDR's Advertisement You may simply copy and paste this ad, exactly as it is shown here: %r%b DREAMS MUX) %r%r%b Look, up in the sky. %r%r%t You know the rest. Whether you're spotting Superman or Warbird, fighting bigotry alongside the X-Men, or prowling the streets of Gotham with Batman, you know that feeling. Heroes Dreams is a MUX founded on the belief some characters deserve to be played, and they fit well into a shared universe. Maybe you remember the "good old days" of superhero MU*'s, or perhaps you look back fondly on a time when you felt more connected to the comics. Maybe you're new to the genre, or you're up on the latest issues. Whatever sort of player you are... welcome! %r%t Imagine a world where, yes, DC and Marvel comics grew up in one shared universe. At the opening of the MUX, we have a theme which is about "year five" or so. Superman has become an established icon of heroism, and the JLA and Avengers are somewhat recently-formed. The original X-Men are in their twenties and Xavier's still welcomes new students. The Mutant population is growing and the public isn't sure what to think of this new breed of "superbeing." %r%t Come and browse our theme files or website if you'd like to know more. Visitors are always welcome, and we're equally friendly to OC, FC, DC, and Marvel characters alike. We hope to see you soon! %r%r ansi(hw,Website:) http://www.heroesdreams.com/[space(5)][ansi(hw,Telnet:)] heroesdreams.com:2002 %r Complaints Complaints Against Players If you have a complaint against another player for any reason, the proper way to go about dealing with it is to send a Complaint +request and explain the problem. Any time another player breaks the rules listed in NEWS RULES, it might be grounds for a complaint. Here are the rules about complaints: All complaints of harassment must be backed up by logs. In addition, /all/ complaints must be made by somebody who is a direct victim of the behavior concerned. A complaint of "X is harassing Y" will not be accepted unless it comes directly from "Y." A player may assist another player in filing a complaint if they are uncomfortable doing so, but the victim of the behavior must be directly involved in the complaint procedure. This policy is being implemented to ensure that third parties do not go charging into player disputes, only possessing one side of the story and, thus, potentially make situations worse. If you wish to mediate a dispute, you may, but you must be extremely careful and if you are not absolutely sure you can do so without angering either party worse, then you should request another mediator, preferably a non-involved member of staff. Complaints Against Staff Our staff tries to be professional and courteous in all our dealings with players. If at any time you feel you are being treated poorly, follow the steps below: Try to talk to the staffer in question in private. Often, "conflict" is merely a failure to communicate. We have page and @mail here for a reason, and if you have a problem, it's encouraged that you speak to the staffer in question before... If the staffer is unavailable, please feel free to ask an On Duty staffer for their help. Or, if you cannot reach a compromise,you are free to contact another staff member. If you have a complaint against a wizard, you may wish to proceed directly to contact Optimus. If you feel the wizard you contacted is being biased or they're off-duty, contact Optimus. (Page if he's on duty, @mail if not.) He has the final say in all matters regarding site policy and othe such issues. If your issue is with Optimus, then you should contact one of the other wizards. Honestly, we /will/ try to give you a fair resolution, no matter who the complaint is against. Continuity This MUX is based on a convergence of major comic book worlds, most directly DC and Marvel. While NEWS THEME must be upheld, our continuity is comprised of what actually occurs on the game. It is not a requirement, but is strongly suggested that you use the history command (See: '+help +hist' on game) to keep notes on what happens to your characters after approval. When characters are dropped, their continuity is considered still "canon" to the game. This means that, effectively, everything they did has still happened and is not wiped out because they've left. Some things can be tweaked or glossed over a bit to suit the needs of the new player--think of it like the character's comic getting taken over by a new writer--but in general the spirit of the character and their history should remain intact. There are some particular exceptions, provisos, and other ares of flexibility in this policy, of course. For one, by virtue of Hypertime, character history may be wiped/tweaked, as detailed in that news file. It is also possible to have a retcon without a character reboot, but there are rules and limitations for doing so, as outlined in the next file. Retcons A retcon is when past IC events are determined not to have happened. We as staff feel that retcons should be quite rare, and are more than willing to assist in resolving difficult IC situations that may occur. However, we accept that sometimes erasing a scene may be necessary. Any individual scene may always be retconned if /all/ players involved agree to it. The only other way a retcon is permissible is by staff ruling, which will only be considered as a last resort, such as if a player strongly believes a scene has written them into a hole with no way out, is negating their ability to enjoy RP, or has involved a serious breach of the rules. This requires that the player submit a log of the incident and fully explain the problem. Retcons cannot be used to escape reasonable IC consequences, but we are more than willing to work with a player who feels they are "stuck." More extensive retcons, such as alterations to a character +concept, background, or IC history always require staff approval. They may or may not be approved, depending primarily on staff's determination of what impact the changes will have on the game and on other characters, whether the changes are appropriate to the game's theme, and how necessary the changes seem (as presented by the player in question and as determined by staff ruling). Fair Use We heartily welcome any contributions to the world of this game that players care to make during their time here. However, when it comes to pass that a player decides to move on, the fate of those contributions may become an issue. As such, this policy stands to make it clear our stance on that. If you build something for the public grid, you can't decide to delete it once you leave. You may delete a private residence, but any public or group building is considered "fair use" for staff to leave that building in place for the duration of the life of the game. The same holds true for any news files you have helped create -- such as world, race, or org files. The reason for this is that once something is created and integrated to the theme, we consider it part of the game's canon. Once you have left your mark on the game, it will remain there for the sake of continuity. We also keep FC writeups for reference purposes only. That way, the canon you have established with your writeup will remain in place even after you drop the character. Despite this, all future appers must still write their own applications. Any plot contributions you have made will also remain part of the game's canon and history. Any logs you appear in will remain in place on the MUX Wiki or wherever else they may have been posted. Naturally, despite whatever uses your creations and ideas may be put to, they are still considered your intellectual property, and staff makes no claim to them beyond their continued use on this game. If, for any reason, you wish to request that something of yours be removed, you may discuss it with staff. However, staff reserves the right to stand by this fair use policy. Courtesy Although it is understood that disagreements and even arguments will happen at times, please avoid turning these into flame wars. If you are on the verge of losing it with another player, take a break from it. Set your +goidle and go AFK to cool off, or even log out for a bit. Think about your responses, and remember that there is another human being with real feelings at the other end of the link. If asked to move an argument or debate that is taking place in a public area to page, please do so rather than inflicting your disagreements on others. Players are expected to be polite and show tolerance of the personal moral and political beliefs of other players. It is never acceptable to mock or belittle the beliefs of another player; to use racial, cultural, personal, or other slurs on the game; to make any derogatory remarks about a gender, ethnic group, culture, country, belief system, lifestyle, or anything else that might be construed as bigoted or hate-speech. Do not use the MUX as a forum for any form of religious, political, or similar forms of recruiting or proselytizing. Respect the opinions of others and the basic right of freedom of belief. Avoid getting into "versus" wars (Macs/PCs suck! Star Trek/Wars blows!, etc.) or excessive "OOC supremacy wars" (I smite you! No I have a shield! I break your shield! It's unbreakable!, etc). Do not toss spam or wanton ANSI about, especially if asked to stop. * Repeated violations of this policy (or of the spirit of this policy), will be treated as harassment, which will not be tolerated. Some violations will be immediately treated as harassment. Harassment On this game, we pursue a zero tolerance policy against harassment of any kind. Harassment behavior may fall into (but is not limited to) the items in this list: * Continuing to page/@mail/contact someone who has asked you to stop * The use of spam as a malicious attack on another player * Attempting to blackmail any player or staffer * Attempting to pressure or coerce another player into sexually explicit scenarios * Threatening another player, including death threats, threats of bodily harm, threats of hacking, etc. * Hate speech will not be tolerated, and it is never acceptable to mock or belittle the beliefs of another player; to use racial, cultural or other slurs on the game; to make any derogatory remarks about gender/sexuality/gender identity, ethnicity, country, belief system, lifestyle, etc. * Staff members (whether acting officially or via their player character alts) are also subject to all of these rules. If you believe you are being harassed by another player, you should politely ask them to stop and, if possible, log the offending behavior. If they do not comply, talk to staff. Avoid getting into a drawn-out conflict with the offending party if at all possible. In any case of a harassment claim, the final ruling lies in the judgment of the game's senior staff members. However, one who avoids violating the letter of this rule may find themselves still judged to be in violation of the spirit of the rule. That is, the rules may say "do not poke other people with a stick." If you are found, however, to be running up and waving a stick in someone's face and saying "Not poking you!" (so to speak), please note that staff is likely to judge you as still being in violation of the policy, in which case disciplinary action will be taken. A first offense violation of this policy, depending on the severity, may only merit a warning. However, if staff judges that a critical violation of this policy has been made, players may be removed from characters, placed on probationary membership to the game, or either temporarily or permanently banned from connecting to the game. For violations that staff finds to be minor or incidental (perhaps arising from a genuine misunderstanding), the consequences may be mitigated or reduced to a formal or informal warning. Any questions about this policy should be sent via @mail to *STAFF. IC vs. OOC Players are expected to retain a level of separation between IC and OOC events. An action against your character should not be taken as an action against you. OOC information such as that contained in +finger or the character sheet is not IC knowledge unless it would be reasonable for your character to know such information. If in doubt, ask the player first. Idle Policy Our idle policy is pretty simple. Once a character is approved, they are expected to log somewhat regularly. If an approved character goes 30 days without connecting, they will be considered "idle." If an OC is idle, then staff may choose to @nuke the character without warning. If an FC is idle, then the character will be set unapproved and available for app. Newly approved characters who do not actually go IC within two weeks will also be considered idle unless another arrangement is made with staff ahead of time. Please note that if you are planning to be away for a specified period of time, then you may discuss that with staff. We are really pretty reasonable about such things. Also, please note that we do have a "vacation" command (+help +vacation) for that purpose. If a character is on vacation for longer than the time specified in their +vacation setting, they may be subject to idle status. Also, if a character has been logging in often enough to keep from being "idle" but never seems to be available for RP, or only pops on for a few minutes to reset their "last connected" time, then staff may decide to declare them in violation of idle policy anyway. Idle Policy for Unapproved Characters Unapproved characters have a different set of idle standards. If a character goes a week without logging in before approval, or if they have not done any work on setting up the character by that time, the character will be considered idle and may be nuked or put back up for application. This may also happen if you do not apply within a month, if you go two weeks after receiving a rejection without fixing it or if you do not go IC within a week after approval. OC's may be given more leeway than FCs, because they will not be keeping others from apping them. This may seem harsh, but we need people playing characters who are enthusiastic enough to at least set up within a reasonable time and take them IC a few times a month. If you have a good RL reason, then we may well be willing to reserve a character until you, say, finish finals, come back from vacation, get that massive project at work done, etc. If you need more time to work on setting up your character, please contact *STAFF and clear it with us. We're willing to be flexible, but you need to keep up informed of your situation. :) Vacations Any time you are going to be gone for more than a week, you should make a formal notice of it somehow. If you are going to be gone for two or more weeks at a time, then you MUST file a vacation notice. If you do not then you may become subject to idle times and removed from the character. Please note that the maximum allowable vacation time for any FC which is not designated a "Minor FC" (as per 'NEWS ALT TYPES') is 60 days. After that time the vacation flag is lifted and the character becomes again subject to idling out. Setting your vacation notice is very easy. Just drop an @mail to *STAFF and set your +vacation (see the +help entry listed below). It is also recommended that a short bbpost be made to the public board, titled "Vacation," "Leave of Absence," or similar -- though this is not required. NOTICE: Every time you log on, your vacation flag is cleared (though your vacation_date will remain until you +vclear it). That means that if you log in again after setting your +vacation, you will lose the flag. Thus, MAKE SURE before you log off to do 'b me' and check if you still have the VACATION flag set. If you do not, you will have to set your +vacation again -- be sure to use the same "vacation date" as before. If for some reason you cannot contact staff directly and you must have someone act by proxy to request a vacation, they must provide your registered staff email address for verification purposes, as well as the date of your expected return. Leeway of as much as a week may be allowed beyond what is listed in the "vacation_date" attribute, if staff has reason to believe the player will be returning in a timely fashion. The +vacation command should never be used as a way to "cheat" the idle purge system. If staff has reason to believe that the +vacation command is being abused by any player, they reserve the right to remove the flag without warning and allow the character to idle out normally. The system only works if people treat it with respect, and no tolerance will be shown for those who abuse the system. Plagiarism At Heroes Dreams: Rebirth, we require all character write-ups and buildings to be the original work of the player. Players are not to directly copy or "paraphrase" descs, character sheets, etc, from other players, web sites (including wiki sites), or any other source. This is not limited to Original Characters, but to Feature Characters as well. Even though the character belongs to a company, you are still required to write your own application. Exceptions can be made, so long as the player has the specific consent of the original author of the material, who should be given some form of credit. If such an arrangement is made, staff must be notified BEFORE the application is submitted, and must be given proof of the expressed permission of the owner of the material. Players may use such sites as mentioned above for reference in their work, but they may not include portions of the original text, even if the text has been modified. Quotes from published sources may be included in elements of your character application, so long as they are presented as /quotes/ and are supplemental -- such as your +finger quote -- rather than comprising actual elements of your character application. Any material found to be plagiarized from another source will be subject to removal at the discretion of staff. Any character which contains plagiarized information will be required to be written up again with all original work, and may be set unapproved and removed from play without warning. The offending player's future apps will, by necessity, be closely scrutinized for further offenses, and if a player is found to be guilty of multiple offenses of plagiarism, they may be asked to leave the game. Please, respect this rule. Staff hates to have to play the mean-n-nasty card, but this is one area on which we are absolutely inflexible. Privacy Policy Whatever personal information that staff ask for, or can see, is entirely /confidential/. We require a valid email address of all players, but we do not give out, sell or spam such email addresses. They are used only to track alts and to possibly contact players if the game is down. Please do /not/ ask staff for somebody else's email address. Unless the player has chosen to make it public, it is against policy for us to give it out. On the same note, it is also against policy for us to inform /anyone/ of the site or IP from which a player is connecting, or divulge their alts. Wizards /can/ see this information, but we do /not/ give it out. Finally, staff would like to reassure everyone that we do not log private conversations or read your @mail, despite this being common practice on other games. However, anyone who sees your conversation could be logging it and we have no rules to restrict what a player may log from their own characters. Remember, telnet connections are not secure, and we are not responsible for anything that might happen as a result of security being compromised. Public Rating All conduct in public areas is to be kept to a general rating of PG-13. Language, general content, violence, sexuality, and the kitchen sink are to be kept within that general scope at all times. This includes content in character traits, poses, dialogue, etc. as well as OOC statements. This game is not specifically adult-oriented, and as such themes or concepts that do not belong on a game where minors are allowed to play should be avoided. What players do in private scenes is not of concern to staff so long as all involved parties are legal adults. Language: Minor vulgarity and profanity is considered acceptable, e.g. the use of such words as one might see on prime time broadcast stations in most television shows. This may be pushed a bit, but that should only be rarely -- use common sense, please. What, then, is not acceptable? Explicit racial slurs, extreme or excessive language (such as the "F-word"), sexually charged or explicit language, and general "adult language" is not acceptable in public. In the case of IC swearing, starred out (****) words are an acceptable substitute. Violence: Extreme or graphic violence should also be avoided. This game is meant to resemble comics /before/ bloodbaths became acceptable. Multiple NPC deaths (more than one or two in a scene) should be approved by staff ahead of time as an official plot. Legality: Please do not publicly discuss illegal activities, such as illegal downloads, file sharing, or similar activity. We do not police what people say in pages, so players are on the honor system there. In public areas of the game, this rule will be strictly enforced. Additionally, you are to avoid actions which hedge close to the limits of this policy, such as excessive or overt sexual innuendo or any description of graphic violence, sexual acts, or anything else which is likely to cause offense to most other players. We do not want to be unduly harsh or restrictive, nor do we care if you flirt in public, IC or OOC. However, there are channels for sexual innuendo or other adult topics of discussion. It is asked that such topics be generally restricted to those areas, rather than in public rooms. If you are at any time asked to stop discussing such a topic, or you perceive that you may be making someone uncomfortable, we ask that you move the discussion to the Adult channel immediately. If you want to surpass these guidelines, then you must do so in a private room, in which you must take reasonable steps to ensure that none of the players involved are minors. You may not make news posts about or submit logs for scenes that violate this policy. TinySex We understand that it is not possible to enforce a complete ban on so-called TinySex, netsex or similar. However, in order to maintain the PG-13 rating of the MUX and its suitability for minors, the following polices are in place: * Players are expected to take reasonable steps to ensure that the person with whom they are engaging in such activity is not a minor. No player is to be coerced, blackmailed, or led to believe that they must engage in such play. No such activity is to take place in public areas of the MUX, either IC or OOC, abiding by the general guideline that if it would not be acceptable in public in real life, it is not acceptable in public on the game. * In public or in private, characters who are physically and/or mentally below the legal age of consent in New York state should never be engaged in TinySex, period. The further below this age one or more of the characters in such a scene is/are, the harsher the penalty will be. In particular, anyone found to be engaging in TS via characters who are under the age of 16 will be reviewed before staff and the offending parties will most likely be banned from the game. That is not acceptable here. * Players are to avoid appearing in public areas in a sexually explicit desc (The "I didn't know I was wearing that" excuse is allowable, as long as it is *very* infrequent). All room descsriptions, object descs, backgrounds, sheets, etc must not contain sexually explicit material. Players are also requested not to place in +finger or elsewhere URLs that lead directly to adult material. "TS Characters" We do not approve characters that appear to be designed for the purpose, primarily or solely, of luring other players into cybersex. On this front, perception is everything. Here are a few things that are likely to give this impression: Having an occupation of stripper, exotic dancer, or the like, is a bit questionable. Powers that focus primarily on charming or attracting others are also a bad idea. "Sex pheremones" and such are /not/ allowed for OCs and if an FC is approved with such powers, they are expected to use them with great care. Empathic control powers should not be written in a way that implies that "pleasure inducement" is one of their major uses. Powers that specifically emphasize some sexual trait of the character are right out. Be careful with descs, and be extra careful with hedonistic personality traits. Promiscuous characters are okay, but sex should not appear to be the primary goal of his/her existence. Also avoid writing backgrounds that focus over-much on romantic entanglements that aren't really important to the overall story. Staff It is only proper to contact a staff member only through their staff alt, when they are listed as "on-duty." Never bother a staff member who is listed as off-duty -- you can see it on '+who' or '+staff'. If you do not see a staff member on +staff, they are to be treated as if they are not on duty, or not connected. Whether or not you know the staff member's alts, never page anyone's PC alt with a staff question or problem. Contacting the staffer off-game via messaging programs or on other MUs is unacceptable. Staff members should only be contacted via email at the address listed in their +finger info. Also, please avoid paging a staff member when a +request or @mail would suffice. Questions are fine via page, but it preferred that actual requests be sent through the +request system. You can also send @mail: Theme questions: @mail *THEME Plots questions: @mail *PLOTS Other questions: @mail *STAFF Build requests: @mail *BUILD Admin Email: hdmux-admin@yahoogroups.com Staff Player Character Alts This policy goes both ways. No staffer may act as staff through one of his or her PC alts, and if they do an emit with their PC alt, they are emitting as any player, not as a staff member. Basically, you are free to treat staff PC alts exactly as you treat any other PC -- and in fact are expected to do so. In turn, the staff member should not act through a PC with any authority not otherwise held by a PC in their position. (Such as a staff PC alt who happens to be a team leader, or running a TP.) If a staffer needs to come into a situation as an admin for any reason, she/he is obligated to do so using her/his OOC staff alt. Also, it is true that staff are expected to be professional in their dealings with players, but staff should not need to censor their opinions _as players_ out of fear of being accused of abusing their position. Notably, PC staff alts /may/ be used, by the player, to submit a complaint to staff as a whole regarding the conduct of another player. However, they will NOT be permitted to be part of the ruling on that complaint. Instead, it will be handled by other staff members like any other player complaint, only without the participation of the staffer who actually filed the complaint. In short, when a staffer is on to play, they have the right to do so without their status as a staffer intervening, and by the same token should not be exerting any staff authority via a PC alt. Category:News